I wanted to chime in and say I have had no issues with my ZigBee or Z-Wave networks (I run both) not being reliable in my house. I made sure I built out the mesh by installing devices close to my server closet where my ZigBee/Z-Wave receiver is and then out from there starting with powered devices that work as repeaters.

Some smart switches can also be configured to run in Smart Bulb mode, where they can be used to control a smart bulb without actually shutting off the power. You can also set up device groups to be able to control the device directly even if Home Assistant is down. I find that this gives me the best of both worlds, as I can do cool things like changing light color and intensity with automations while still having the ability to turn the light on/off if my server or WiFi network goes down.

Absolutely, but for now the best thing we can do is show up and vote and call out these misleading polls for what they are. The larger the margins are, the harder it gets to try to cheat through the courts. Of course if there is a big blue wave, we’ll hear that it itself is evidence that voter fraud happened, in which they will justify with these slanted polls.

I think the other silver lining is that when it comes down too it, Trump doesn’t have a large enough base that is willing to stick thier own necks out in a misguided attempt to “save” democracy. Trump.didn’t get the numbers he wanted on January 6th and he won’t get them this time either.

Just because you don’t know the rules doesn’t mean they are unwritten.

https://democrats.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/2024-Delegate-Selection-Rules.pdf

They did hold a primary. You might have not liked how they ran it. I had my own issues with it as well, but they did and once those votes are in the pledged delegates have to honor the winner from it, which Biden was. Tell me how they could have just taken it away from him without him stepping down again?

Do you know how Democrat canidates are picked? Biden already had enough pledged delegates to win the nomination.

I’ve wondered the same thing. Maybe a the Enquirer did a catch and kill payoff to the neighbors when it happened?

I don’t think you actually do want an nuanced discussion, but here you go.

Let’s start by acknowledging that everyone has different morals which makes basing rules of law on morals a difficult proposal. But let’s say that rules for a fair and just society usually come down to that one’s rights ends where someone else’s begins. Maybe you disagree with this, but I’d say it is a pretty basic standard to make things fair.

So in the abortion debate, the opinion of whether or not the unborn have any rights in society. Some people will say no, that until you are a living breathing human, you are not a part of society and its rules. To theses people, the abortion debate ends there. The unborn have no rights so abortion is justified.

Some people believe that the unborn have just as many rights as anyone else, so then my proposed scenerio starts to come into play. If we can force women to give up bodily autonomy in favor another life, then why not enact similar rules to save others in society as well.

Now, you might say, “hold on a minute, I think that the unborn actually has more rights because they are among the most vulnerable in society and can’t live unless they have some rights over the mother’s body.” Well, in that case then my scenario does seem pretty silly, and to some extent that makes sense, as there are plenty of laws that center around the welfare of children, but none that force specific people to give up bodily autonomy in the same way that forced pregnancy does. I would also expect people in this camp to support laws to support children in need by providing food, housing, and other support they need. So in my opinion, if you support abortion bans but don’t support laws that help take of children in need, then you are a hypocrite, especially since social support comes in the form that doesn’t force any individual to not have control over their own body. Now a lot of GOP politicians seem to fall in this category, so my scenario is aimed directly at them.

Okay, so say you support the rights of the unborn as well as favor societal structures to also help children in need. This at least I can understand, but I would still say that abortion bans are misguided because they usually end up disproportionately affecting people without a lot of means in the first place and do nothing to address the reasons that women actually get abortions. I would say that if you can start by addressing those things with things like free and easy access to birth control, financial compensation, and fostering environments that teach consent so woman can feel safe turning down sex that can lead to pregnancy. But to try none of those and jump straight to punishing women seems like supporting cruelty in the face of better options.

I look forward to your nuanced response.

Its a probing question to find out where the moral line is. It is a ridiculous proposal for sure, but it is basically the same ask as forcing a woman to carry out an unwanted pregnancy.

Looks like your real enemy are all these strawmen that you keep building your arguments around.

You dismiss my views on bodily autonomy by saying that we who support that stance also support mandatory vaccines when you are the only one advocating for that here. BTW, I don’t support mandatory vaccines, but I do support getting vaccines and think by supporting better education among the general population, vaccine rates would stay in the range for heard immunity to kick in for those that can’t or just don’t want them for whatever reason.

In my view supporting abortion ban is the extreme position here. One that has caused a lot of very real hurt and pain. Way more pain than someone making comments that unborn babies are parasites. I’m sorry that made you uncomfortable, but swinging your support behind the crowd that has caused women to suffer in response seems like a weird reaction to me.

And when I bring up putting your support behind less extreme policies that would actually do more to address the reasons women seek abortions you go off on me about fighting political extremes? What a fucking laugh.

You didn’t “go one further” than me, it sounds like we both are advocating for free and easy access to contraception. Either way I’m glad you support that at least.

You say that most pro life people aren’t extremists, but the ones that write the abortion ban laws seem to lean into the extremes, so by supporting them you are supporting those extreme positions. And even when the laws still have exceptions, those with means can go get an abortion elsewhere for whatever reason they want. So the laws primarily effect those who probably didn’t have the means to get other types of birth control as well. And in some cases people who actually want to have babies but need to suffer because these laws can prevent care because of government intervention between health care providers and patients.

You say yourself that there are other methods of reducing abortion, so why advocate for the one that seems less effective and promotes cruelty?

So do you support abortion in cases of rape where the woman didn’t choose to have sex?

Not that it matters of course. As we see the reality of anti abortion laws generally push for few or no exceptions, so rape victims have to continue enduring trauma for something they have now control in.

If you asked me how to really reduce abortions, then I would suggest comprehensive sex education, along with free and easy access to contraception to everyone, as well fostering environments that respect consent so women can feel safe saying no. Again, after all of that I’d still draw my line that gives women over the rights to their bodies. But to support outlawing abortion before any of those things just seems like supporting cruelty in the face of more effective options.

But it is about bodily autonomy. You are advocating to force people to use their bodies against their will. And most people who support these policies don’t ever have to worry about it happening to them.

You are right that the real world needs exceptions or compromises. I’ll just never understand that why we need to compromise on the rights of the “unborn” vs enacting policies that would do a lot of good for those that are living and suffering instead that doesn’t force people into losing choices over their own bodies.

Question for you. When there are shortages on organ donor lists that will cause people to die, should the government be able to compel heathy individuals to donate organs they don’t need? What about for blood shortages?

I’m not seeing anyone in this thread telling anyone to vote third party.

When it comes down to voting for Biden or whatever racist shitbag the GOP trots out, I’m going to vote for Biden. But don’t tell me I’m not allowed to criticize him or the party. Acting like a political party is above criticism comes off as fascist.

And before you get on to me about only criticizing Democrats, I think we can all agree that Republicans are worse, but if we aren’t allowed to call out Dems on shit, then we truly don’t have a democracy anymore.

I get the impulse that talking shit about a political candidate is turning people off of voting or voting for the realistic candidate, but I would argue that doing shit like keeping old politicians in office does a lot more to turn people off of voting. If we want people to vote, then they need to be inspired by a candidate and feel good about voting. And of course they don’t feel inspired when they hear criticisms about both parties, but clearly just telling people that they have to vote for someone to keep someone like Trump from office only seems to work for reelection, but it didn’t stop him from getting in office in the first place. I’m pretty confident that Trump won’t be president again, I’m not so confident about the next guy like him.

I got a smart lock after realizing that we would simply forget to lock the front door sometimes since we typically leave via the garage. It’s connected to Home Assistant and now will lock automatically if no one is home.

Technically, I know that a smart lock is less secure, but in most real world scenarios, knowing that the lock will be locked when we are not home, on top of being notified if it becomes unlocked, I’d argue that it’s more secure now than when I had a dumb lock.